The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated from a cross pollination of the seed parent Cordyline australis ‘Purple Tower,’ an unpatented cultivar and the pollen parent Cordyline australis ‘Torbay Dazzler,’ also unpatented, made by the inventor during December 1995. It was discovered by the inventor, Arthur George Rendle, a citizen of New Zealand, in 1996 in New Plymouth, New Zealand.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘Sunrise’ was first performed in Auckland, New Zealand by vegetative root cuttings. Subsequently ‘Sunrise’ has been reproduced by micro-propagation and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type through 20 generations.